Top 10 Best Music Festival Lineups of 2016 (So Far)

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Festival season isn’t what it used to be. On one hand, there are more fests than ever popping up in every nook and cranny of the United States. On the other hand, lineups are becoming less and less diverse, to the point where major festival lineups are almost carbon copies of each other.

But, if you can sift through the redundancies, there is some pretty magical stuff happening this year. Reunions, crazy collabs, and your favorite rock icons back from the dead–check out our picks for the top 10 best festy lineups this summer.

Euphoria Festival

Euphoria went from being this great little festival with a solid cast of somewhat smaller performers, to an epic EDM blowout featuring Bassnectar, Dillon Francis and Tycho. (Is that a good or bad thing? Only time will tell.) Besides the beat-dropping headliners, there’s still a great variety of music to check out from bands that you’ve probably never heard of but will end up loving. April 7-10 | Austin, TX | Official Website

Coachella

Even if every other artist on the lineup sucked, we’d have to include Coachella on this list purely because of the LCD Soundsystem and Guns N’ Roses reunions. (Keep in mind they were the first to announce LCD as headliners, before the band was added to literally every other festival on the planet.) Also, Ice Cube is going to be there! And Taylor Swift’s boyfriend! April 15-17 & 22-24 | Indio, CA | Official Website

Beale Street Music Festival

Memphis, TN, has long been a hotbed of culture, history and art, and the Beale Street Music Festival lineup is a true reflection of that. This year mark’s the 40th anniversary of the event, and the list of artists performing is a total mixture of popular musicians spanning decades and genres. The extremely diverse lineup includes some pop, some EDM, some jam, some alt-rock, some indie, and NO Florence and the Machine. April 29 – May 1 | Memphis, TN | Official Website

Boston Calling

We love this lineup for its originality, alt/indie vibes, and most of all Girl Power. While songstress Sia is all over the festival circuit this summer, Boston Calling is the only one in which she is the main headliner, only overshadowed by Robyn(!!!) performing the following day. If that isn’t enough estrogen for ya’, what about Haim and Janelle Monáe slated for Sunday? Goddesses. May 27-29 | Boston, MA | Official Website

Sasquatch! Music Festival

In order to compete as a Memorial Day Weekend festival, you must consistently have a killer lineup. Luckily, that’s never been a problem for Sasquatch! Festival. Sure, they fall into some of the same trappings as their larger counterparts like Bonnaroo and Coachella (let’s call it the “Florence and the Machine Effect”), but with artists like The Cure, Grimes, Yo La Tengo, Yeasayer and Leon Bridges, we must bow down. They also have a pretty great comedy lineup, including Natasha Leggero and Todd Barry. May 27-30 | Quincy, WA | Official Website

Bonnaroo

When you’re a festival as large-scale as Bonnaroo, it’s basically mandatory that you must proverbially “bring it” every year with a killer lineup. But we have to hand it to them for scoring headliners Dead & Company in what is so far their only festy appearance this summer. Also Pearl Jam is always exciting, and LCD Soundsystem was exciting until they showed up at literally every other fest this summer. While much of Bonnaroo’s lineup isn’t the most original in the world, if you wade through the muck there are some real gems. June 9-12 | Manchester, TN | Official Website

Firefly Music Festival

You can always count on Firefly to bring an eclectic lineup fill with alternative pop and rock favorites. This year is no different, with artists like Mumford & Sons, Kings of Leon and Blink 182 on the bill. Also Ludacris is playing. Yes, Ludacris. June 16-19 | Dover, DE | Official Website

Panorama

It’s no surprise that for its first year in operation, Panorama Festival is bringing in some heavy-hitters. Likely because the same people that organize Coachella also organize Panorama, which explains why some of the lineup is nearly identical. Yawn. But despite the dupes, we can’t help but get excited for a fest boasting Arcade Fire (only U.S. fest of the summer), Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes, The National… we could go on. July 22-24 | Randall’s Island, NY | Official Website

Peach Music Festival

Now celebrating its 5th anniversary, Peach Music Festival continues to bring an impressive lineup year after year, and has become a favorite among jam band enthusiasts. Of course you have your usual suspects: Trey Band, Gregg Allman, Umphrey’s McGee, but this year brings a little extra pizazz. Specifically, a superjam between Gregg Allman and The String Cheese Incident–dubbed “The Gregg Allman Incident”– has become the main buzzed-about performance. August 11-14 | Scranton, PA | Official Website

Lockn’ Festival

Move over every other festival announced this year–Lockn’ Festival in Virginia is throwing DOWN. With two nights of Phish, two nights of Ween, two nights of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, plus a headlining set from My Morning Jacket, you won’t find any LCD Soundsystem or Florence + The Machine here. August 25-28 | Arrington, VA | Official Website